Siemens Solutions Help Healthcare Providers Drive Patient Safety Improvements
22 February 2008 - 1:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Siemens to Showcase its Patient Safety Solutions at HIMSS 2008
MALVERN, Pa., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Siemens
(http://www.usa.siemens.com/healthcareit) will showcase its many
solutions that are designed to help enhance quality of care and
patient safety at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems
Society (HIMSS) 2008 Annual Conference and Exhibition (Booth
#3763), to be held in Orlando Feb. 24 through Feb. 28. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO ) Siemens
Med Administration Check(TM) (MAK) utilizes point-of-care barcode
technology to automatically validate and document the medication
administration process to help reduce the potential for errors and
improve care. MAK helps to reduce errors by providing a tool that
alerts nurses immediately to potential errors of drug, dose, route,
time or patient. CentraState Healthcare System, a 272-bed,
non-profit medical facility located in Freehold, N.J., kicked off a
system-wide initiative last year to help address the costs and
risks associated with preventable medication errors. A large
component of the initiative included the implementation of MAK,
along with Siemens Pharmacy. Now, when CentraState pharmacists fill
a medication order, the system cross-checks the order with the
patient's medical record for any potential contraindications and
nurses use barcode scanners to scan the medication and patient at
the bedside when administering medications, during which the MAK
system will provide alerts to the nurse if any potential risks or
errors are detected. Since using these solutions, CentraState has
witnessed a 42 percent reduction in avoidable adverse drug events*.
"The support and acceptance of this project from our staff members
has been remarkable," explained Indranil "Neal" Ganguly, CIO,
CentraState. "The solutions from Siemens have greatly improved the
quality of care we provide to our patients and we are looking
forward to continuing to grow our patient safety programs with help
from our team at Siemens." Siemens Patient Identification Check
applies barcode technology to the patient specimen collection
process for reliable, efficient positive identification of each
specimen. As a result, it minimizes collection errors and can
reduce the need to re-draw specimens. Patient specimen
identification is verified in four steps, performed in the presence
of the patient: scanning the barcode on the clinician's ID card,
scanning the barcode on the patient's wristband, reviewing specimen
detail such as the type of container and scanning the specimen
container. Siemens Patient Identification Check then prints a
barcode label that includes the actual time of collection and the
name of the clinician who took the sample. Jackson-Madison County
General Hospital, a 612-bed tertiary care center and flagship of
West Tennessee Healthcare, serves the 17-county area of rural West
Tennessee. Prior to deploying Siemens Patient Identification Check
in its Medical Center Lab, the staff ran regular risk management
analyses to track missed or late specimen collections. The average
number of daily risk management reports was between six and eight.
The number of risk reports for delayed collections has dropped
significantly to fewer than four per month*. In addition to the
positive impacts on patient safety that Patient Identification
Check has helped to drive, the solution has also assisted
significant workflow improvements and specimen collection and
delivery turnaround times. Prior to using the solution,
phlebotomists would need to secure pre-printed labels from the lab
for all of their specimen collections. With the new solution,
phlebotomists can act on an order immediately when notified via
their Patient Identification Check handheld computer client, taking
a patient sample and then immediately sending it to the lab. The
result has been a 70 percent improvement, from an average of 21
minutes to 6.5 minutes, from collection to delivery to the lab of
patient samples*. Soarian(R) Device Connect enables electronic
collection of information from GE DINAMAP(R) vital signs monitors,
streamlining the task of identifying patients, recording
observations, and supporting validation of the documented vital
signs. It helps to eliminate opportunities for transcription errors
by replacing manual data transcription. It makes vitals information
immediately available to the clinicians. It also helps to validate
and transfer vital signs electronically, with only a few clicks,
helping to eliminate paper-based capture and online keying, thereby
increasing nursing productivity. CaroMont Health, an independent,
not-for-profit healthcare system based in Gastonia, N.C., recently
served as the beta site for Soarian Device Connect. In addition to
the patient safety implications of having patient vital signs
automatically validated and documented via Soarian Device Connect,
CaroMont experienced significant workflow efficiency gains.
CaroMont saw a reduction in process time by more than 45 percent --
by nine minutes per bed, per day -- in the first month of
production use. Additionally, the nursing staff experienced a
reduction of process steps by more than half -- from 24 to 11 -- in
less than one month*. * Results at other organizations may vary.
Siemens has data supporting these outcomes on file. About Siemens
Healthcare Siemens Healthcare is one of the world's largest
suppliers to the healthcare industry. The company is a renowned
medical solutions provider with core competence and innovative
strength in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies as well as in
knowledge engineering, including information technology and system
integration. With its laboratory diagnostics acquisitions, Siemens
Healthcare will be the first fully integrated diagnostics company,
bringing together imaging and lab diagnostics, therapy, and
healthcare information technology solutions, supplemented by
consulting and support services. Siemens Healthcare delivers
solutions across the entire continuum of care -- from prevention
and early detection, to diagnosis, therapy and care. The company
employs more than 49,000 people worldwide and operates in 130
countries. In the fiscal year 2007 (Sept. 30), Siemens Healthcare
reported sales of euro 9.85 billion (on a pro forma basis including
Dade Behring roughly euro 11 billion), orders of euro 10.27
billion, and group profit of euro 1.32 billion. Further information
can be found by visiting http://www.siemens.com/healthcare.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Siemens Healthcare CONTACT:
Michele Bowman of Siemens, +1-610-448-3236, Web site:
http://www.siemens.com/healthcare
http://www.usa.siemens.com/healthcareit
http://www.usa.siemens.com/medical
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